MATER ECCLESIAE

ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH

261 Cross Keys Road, Berlin, NJ 08009

September 14, 2008

Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross

My dear friends,

    Pope Leo XIII reigned as Supreme Pontiff from Feb. 20, 1878 until July 20, 1903. In those 24 years as Pope, he wrote 11 encyclicals on the Holy Rosary. In his first Encyclical on the Rosary, Supremi Apostolatus Officio [This, and all Papal Encyclicals can be found at www.papalencyclicals.net] , released on September 1, 1883, Pope Leo XIII calls the world, as did his predecessors to pray the Rosary for Victory over the enemies of God and His Church. The Pope says,

The supreme Apostolic office which we discharge and the exceedingly difficult condition of these times, daily warn and almost compel Us to watch carefully over the integrity of the Church, the more that the calamities from which she suffers are greater. While, therefore, we endeavor in every way to preserve the rights of the Church and to obviate or repel present or contingent dangers, We constantly seek for help from Heaven -- the sole means of effecting anything -- that our labors and our care may obtain their wished for object. We deem that there could be no surer and more efficacious means to this end than by religion and piety to obtain the favor of the great Virgin Mary, the Mother of God, the guardian of our peace and the minister to us of heavenly grace, who is placed on the highest summit of power and glory in Heaven, in order that she may bestow the help of her patronage on men who through so many labors and dangers are striving to reach that eternal city.

Now…[therefore,]  We desire that [the Holy Rosary] should be offered by the whole Catholic world with the greatest earnestness to the Blessed Virgin, that by her intercession her Divine Son may be appeased and softened in the evils that afflict us.

     He continues by tracing a brief history of the Rosary.  In the twelfth century, Saint Dominic, who received the Holy Rosary from our Lady, undauntedly destroyed the heresy of Albigensianism.  By this heavenly method of prayer “piety, faith, and union began to return, and the projects and devices of the heretics to fall to pieces. Many wanderers also returned to the way of salvation, and the wrath of the impious was restrained.”

      “The power of this devotion was also wondrously exhibited in the sixteenth century, when the vast forces of the Turks threatened to impose on nearly the whole of Europe the yoke of superstition and barbarism.” Pope St. Pius V, asked all the people of the Church to pray the Rosary to defeat this enemy. Our Lady heard this prayer and the Turks were miraculously defeated in the naval battle of Lepanto. To preserve the memory of this great victory, Pope Saint Pius V desired that a feast in honor of Our Lady of Victories should celebrate the anniversary this day, the feast which Gregory XIII instituted, on October 7, with the title of "The Holy Rosary" Similarly, important successes were obtained at Temeswar, in Pannonia, and at Corfu; and in both cases these engagements coincided with feasts of the Blessed Virgin and with the conclusion of public devotions of the Rosary. These victories led Pope Clement XI, in his gratitude, to decree that the Blessed Mother of God should every year be especially honored in her Rosary by the whole church.

     Pope Leo XIII then goes on to quote many of his predecessors. Pope Urban IV testified that "every day the Rosary obtained fresh boon for Christianity." St. Pius V, said that "with the spread of this devotion the meditations of the faithful have begun to be more inflamed, their prayers more fervent, and they have suddenly become different men; the darkness of heresy has been dissipated, and the light of Catholic faith has broken forth again." Lastly Gregory XIII pronounced that "the Rosary had been instituted by St. Dominic to appease the anger of God and to implore the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary.”

     We could add many more quotes from Leo XIII through Pope Benedict XVI. It is sufficient to say, however, that the Holy Rosary is a great weapon of heavenly power and we need to win many victories in our day; against abortion and the harvesting of aborted babies for stem cells, for Christian marriage between a man and a woman, to stop the hemorrhaging of apostasy and heresy in the Church, to bring people back to an active discipleship in the true Church of Jesus Christ, and to bring people to vote with a Catholic conscience for the right leaders; leaders who will promote life, end abortion, legislate traditional morality for the common good and  pick judges who will interpret the Constitution, not create a new one.

       Moved by these thoughts and prompted by our urgent present needs, I beg you to pray the Rosary for 40 days prior the election. I also ask you to join a national “40 Days for Life” by fasting and self denial. This time of prayer and fasting will begin on Wednesday, September 24 and conclude on Sunday, November 2. Elections are held on Tuesday, November 4. It will also coincide with October, the month of the Holy Rosary, and with the feast of the Holy Rosary, which we will celebrate as an external solemnity on Sunday, October 12. We will carry the statue of Our Lady of Fatima and have a public Rosary Procession after the 11:00AM High Mass on October 5, 12 and 26. October 19 is the closing Mass of 40 Hours, which will conclude with a Eucharistic procession. I beg you to make every sacrifice to attend these devotions along with your private rosary and fasting. Do not let this time pass. We need victory and the Holy Rosary is our heavenly weapon.

Sincerely,

Rev Robert C. Pasley, KHS

Rector of Mater Ecclesiae